


cherry

by Lily_Anna



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Boys In Love, Brocedes, M/M, Memories, Nostalgia, Past Relationship(s), Teen Romance, it has been 0 days since I last cried about their holiday in greece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22130077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Anna/pseuds/Lily_Anna
Summary: Nico’s parents mail him a box with his old video camera and videotapes that he filmed during his holidays when he younger. He starts to watch them and all the memories, as well as the nostalgia, come back reminding him of what it was like to be a teenager in love.In a twist of fate, the first tape he watches is named “Greece, 2004”
Relationships: Lewis Hamilton/Nico Rosberg
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	cherry

**Author's Note:**

> Me? Crying about brocedes? It's more likely than you think!
> 
> This fic is inspired by the song Cherry by Harry Styles, not the lyrics of the song but the final part of the audio in which Harry's ex gf talks over the tune. It gives me a strong sense of nostalgia and I had to write something about it. You can listen to the "original conversation" around the minute 3:30 of the song, I translated the dialogue from French to German and you'll find the English translation at the end of the notes :)
> 
> Apparently they went in the infamous holiday in Greece when they were 14 (so in 1999/2000) but in this fic the holiday is set in 2004, making them 19.
> 
> GENERAL DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real events and/or to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Do not repost.

It was a sunny afternoon in Monaco, when Nico’s mother called. 

“Hello?”, “Hello dear! How are you?”. “I’m fine, how are you? Why are you calling, did something happen?” asked Nico a little surprised by the unexpected call, knowing his parents were on holiday in their house in Switzerland. “No no everything is fine. Your dad was getting bored and decided to modernize a little bit the house and tidy up some stuff, you know how he is” Sina laughed from the other side of the phone. Nico let out a small laugh too: “Oh so you’re trying to keep me updated on the renovation? Unfortunately I’m not that knowledgeable on this topic”. 

“Actually I was calling because we found some of your stuff in your old bedroom. Most of it is pretty obsolete but we found a box with your old video camera and your videotapes and I thought that maybe you would like to have it at home? If you want we can mail it to you” said his mom. 

Suddenly a lot of memories flooded back in Nico’s mind. He loved his old camera, it was a present that he got for Christmas and he took it everywhere, filming all of his adventures he had when he was a teen. He liked to think that that was the start for his love about filming vlogs and video for YouTube, even though at the time he got his camera it didn’t even exist.

“Of course, I’d love to have it at home”, “It’s all settled then, tomorrow morning I’m going to mail it. Your father is calling me, I must go. Ich habe dich lieb!”. “Take care and tell dad I said hi! Ich habe dich gern” replied Nico before ending the call.

\--

Three days after the call with his mother, finally Nico received his box with all the old video tapes. He was so excited to see them that when he got it, even though it was merely 5 in the afternoon, he decided to put work aside and call it a day. 

Nico went in the attic and stared for a bit at the box, pensieve. It was pretty big and when he ultimately opened it, inside there was his beloved Sony Digital8 camera and at least 50 video tapes, all organized by year and place which were written in the front of the tapes with Nico’s neat handwriting. 

First of all he connected his camera to the video projector and then directed its gaze to the white wall in front of him so he could see the films comfortably sitting on his favourite armchair.

At that point he started to rummage around in the box and to lay aside the tapes that caught his attention the most. 

Then he found it, or better, he found one of them. It seemed just regular tape like the others, but when he read the date on it his heart sunk. 

At the top it was written ** _“Greece, 2004”_ **. 

Nico knew there were more, but naively he had hoped that they had magically disappeared after all those years. He should have thrown them away ages ago but he never found the courage and deep down he knew that he never will.

Since Nico was nostalgic and sentimental, he decided to put that tape into the projector and pressed play.

At the bottom of the video there was written “20. August 2004, 21:35”. It was recorded in a dim lit room, probably just after the sun had set, and Nico’s eyes took some moments to adjust and focus on the person on the screen. 

Not that he needed to of course, he would have recognized Lewis’ silhouette everywhere.

_ The Brit was lazily playing an indefinite melody, strumming his guitar. Back then he had just started playing and took his guitar everywhere, as much as Nico took his camera with him. _

_ The tune was slow but at the same time it seemed happy. The camera focused on Lewis, bent over the guitar: he played for a few minutes before stopping, wrote down something on a paper in front of him (a sheet music, Nico guessed) and then resumed playing the same tune from the start. _

_ Then Nico heard his 19-year-old self of the video, speaking over the tune: “Hallo! Schlӓfst du? Oh, es tut mir leid…”. There’s a pause in the conversation, while the other person on the phone replies. Then, the Nico in the video laughs and says: “Nein… nein, das ist nicht wichtig…”. _

It had been so many years that he doesn’t even remember who he was calling; it was probably his mother, but he guesses that it doesn’t really matter anymore. He can’t see himself on the tape so he must have been on the other side of the camera, maybe he had even been unaware that Lewis was recording himself. But like he had said before, it didn’t matter anymore.

_ His voice becomes more distant, indicating that he’s moving from the living room to another room, maybe the kitchen or the balcony. He hear himself adding: “Ja, wir sind an den Strand gegangen und jetzt sind wir-” and then only some muffled sounds, too low to be distinguishable. In the meantime, Lewis hasn’t stopped playing the guitar and keeps glancing at Nico every now and then, even though he clearly don’t understand the conversation. _

Nico had tried many times to teach him some basic German but Lewis struggled to learn it and in the end the only thing he managed to say was “Ich liebe dich”. He bitterly wonders if the Brit still remembers it.

_ In the video, Lewis keeps subtly checking out Nico, who is probably standing behind the camera. He hears himself exclaiming “Perfekt!” before ending the call. Then some footsteps and his voice again: “Lewis?”. The other boy looks up and gives him a breathtaking smile. Then Lewis reach out to the camera and the video stops. _

Nico’s heart aches. He remembers that smile, how Lewis would smile like that at him and at him only. It was their secret smile, which held a special place in Nico’s heart. Of course, it had been years since Lewis last smiled at him like that.

They lost each other a long time ago, trying to win and achieve their childhood dream.

The German remembers well their holiday in Greece and he knows that Lewis does too. It seemed like a lifetime ago, when they still thought that nothing could break them apart. The media, the team’s pressure, the expectations to win at whatever cost: they all seemed conquerables. 

They had been best friends, lovers and at the end rivals. Now Nico didn’t know what they were. Probably nothing.

Years of knowing each other inside and out that turned into a polite nod when they ran into each other in Monaco.

Nico sights: his breath is trembling and his eyes are a little teary. 

He takes a deep breath, then reaches out to the projector and press play. 

The video slowly starts again: _ Lewis is playing his guitar... _

**Author's Note:**

> I did some research before writing (historical accuracy! yay!) and the type of camera that Nico had was used mostly for at-home-videos around 2000 and had VHS tapes. It was difficult to understand because the source was in English and as someone who was born in 2000, I don't really get how tecnology worked then; if you see any "historical inaccuracies" just ignore them haha.  
Also I had always thought that Lewis was 2 years older than Nico, but Wikipedia says they were both born in 1985.
> 
> Translation of the song (I used Google so there might be some mistakes): "Hallo! Schlӓfst du? Oh, es tut mir leid…” Hello! Are you sleeping? Oh, I'm sorry...  
"Nein, das ist nicht wichtig" No, it isn't important  
"Ja, wir sind an den Strand gegangen und jetzt sind wir-" Yes, we went to the beach and now-  
"Perfekt!" Perfect
> 
> English is not my first language so I apologise if there are any mistakes.  
Feel free to leave kudos/comments, I really appreciate them <3  



End file.
